A Collection of Daily Wisdom by Dennis Sylvester Hurd since September 2003.

The classic 1951 sci-fi movie, When Worlds Collide, was on the PVR. Fifty-three years after its premier, it is interesting to watch from a historical perspective. The premise is some scientists build a rocket ship to escape earth as a rogue planet and sun loom on a collision course. Well after seeing the newest LOTR, one would expect 1951 special effects to be a bit dated. Still, there's something rather enjoyable about seeing an effect that looks like an effect and it did win the 1952 Academy Award for best effects! Anyway, there was one scene in which a helicopter was flying over a deluged city.

Although last month marked a century of flight, I didn't know when helicopters made their first appearance. I am so used to having a PC with broadband connection running in the living room. (Something quite far-fetched at the time of this movie. In fact it begins with the need for an international courier to hand carry data from a South African observatory to NYC.)

Anyway, the German Focke-Wulf FW-61 is considered the first practical helicopter. It first flew in 1936. How would I have known that pre-Net? By the time I'd have gotten to the library, I would've fogotten about the question ...

Labels: movies

Do you remember when AltaVista was THE hot search engine of choice? They started doing on-the-fly web translations a few years back. I have always wondered how accurate the translations are. Nowadays, Google seems very quick but doesn't handle handle the end of italics or bold well. More importantly, I still wonder how well they really work. I ran this page though both services and there were differences. Here's Google's idea of what this blog would look like in German.

mein eJournal und Bilder

I searched for a photo to include as today's entry. This pictures was
taken in Juneau, AK. Vancouver is a huge port for summertime cruise
ships to Alaska. We took a 7-day trip in 2001 and loved it. The
Inside Passage makes for an impressive voyage.

Labels: Alaska, cruise, places

All the Christmas lights and ornaments are packed away. I hate it when people keep their lights burning till February. Even the moose (December 27) will be hibernating for about 50 weeks!

Today, I'll offer just a few comments on a topic mentioned on December 31. NewsDesk comes with some feeds pre-arranged. Yet they suck, and your best bet in getting up to speed is to go on a search for more usable feeds. Unfortunately this can take some time and effort. Just using a search engine can turn up some pages that help. For example, Top 100 RSS Feeds or Bloglines Most Popular can get you started.



This RSS thing may be rather nerdy. When a concept is 'really ready for prime time' it's usually easier than this! So, if running around in search of feeds sounds too much like work, then I can export my channel directory and send you the small text file by email. Happy syndication surfing!

Here's an extra Globe and Mail reading on RSS.

Do the Inuit really have 200 words for snow?

Labels: weather

Vancouverites swap umbrellas for shovels

LET'S WELCOME

Last night, I had one of those 'wow' moments. You know, those rare times when a whole new world opens up because one's learned of a new technology? Oh, gads .. if you're a self-described news junkie .. then have I got a revelation for you!

RSS = Really Simple Syndication

Don, we shared information about the Google News. It is a completely automated news page that's created without human editors. It is possible for them to get hundreds of news media updates every few minutes because of a software framework called RSS (XML).

RSS has grown in importance, in part, because of the preponderance of blogging. It is a way of sharing items between web sites and programs. Running in real time on regular web servers, updates can occur constantly. The concepts are quite complex, but the program is fairly simple. I just downloaded an RSS News Reader (Aggregator) called NewsDesk. It comes with a few dozen publications set up. (There are thousands, no probably tens of thousands, of 'feeds'.)

Just a headline and a few lines from the net publication appear within the reader. However, the person can then click on the headline in order to load the page. Hundreds of thousands of people no longer slog their way through a multitude of pages on popular news sites. They now save time by going after only the content they're interested in. (It means that writers will have to pay close attention to creating good headlines.)

Any site that bothers to put up an RSS feed can be subscribed to. There are even work-arounds that provide RSS features to web sites that don't provide one. Learn more about how RSS is added to a site by clicking here.

Labels: Don, Internet, software

If it's going to happen .. the week between Christmas and New Year's is it! Thousands of people in the area feel like kids again today!

Labels: Christmas

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Santa you rat!

I wrote to you on December 24 and again on December 26. Now I fear I am wasting my time and will not bother anymore. However, I think you are really a jerk for not bringing me a wide-screen TV. I was extremely nice during 2003 but I have seen no reward for my good behavior. I have waited and waited but did not get my TV nor did I get any response from my previous messages.

My lawyer and I had a very long discussion and we have decided not to press charges. But please be advised that you have now made an enemy because of your negligence. I plan on starting an Internet campaign to bring attention to your obvious malice and disregard for my feelings. You will live to regret the day you ignored my simple request for a high-definition television.

Your adversary,
Dennis Hurd

P.S. As my hamster had to eat up the cookies you left, he has become fat and lazy. Also, I drank that bottle of wine in one sitting and now find myself beginning a new addiction for the new year.

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Labels: humour

When I was taking yesterday's picture at the Quay, I took this one too. You can send it along as a photo message to someone you want to impress. It's much cheaper than sending real flowers!

View a Webshot Photo

I've got a number of albums on webshots.com. Check 'em out now!

[Editor's Note: I now use Flickr.]

Labels: Flickr, flora and fauna, Quay

In last Friday's photo of Christmas Day, there's not a hint of white. But as last night's precipitation was frozen, I'm able to include a dash in today's picture. Granted, it's not much but it makes things feel a little more like winter.


The Esplanade is under supervision of New Westminster's Department
of Parks and Recreation. (See an autumn picture of the same area in this
blog's October 27th entry.)

How's this for youth entrepreneurship in fund raising! I know Garrett, the author. The organization is legitimate, so please pass along this information to those who may be interested.

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Hi, I am Garrett and I'm helping my sister. She is going to Costa Rica this spring with they Eco-teach. She is so excited! She will spend time in the Tropical Rain-forest, protecting sea turtles, planting trees and visiting farmers. She is selling coffee to earn her way. The coffee is Ten dollars a pound. You can have it in Ground or whole bean. It is strait from Costa Rica farmers and 4 dollars from every pound goes to them and one dollar goes to Eco-teach.

I have designed a web site for my sister. it tells you all about the coffee. It is named ...

Becca's Coffee For A Cause.

I hope you buy some coffee.

Till next time,

Garrett Wirta
My sister's webmaster

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